During the 1820s, the London police primarily consisted of the Bow Street Day Patrol and the Night Watch. Due to the rapid population growth that occurred throughout England, crime increased, and the police was unable to patrol all areas. Many feared that their property was in danger, which caused them to complain to the government about the lack of an effective police force. Following his position as Chief Secretary of Ireland, Robert Peel became Home Secretary of England, where he began to reform the police system. Robert Peel’s experience in politics along with the government’s need to end the chaos of the 1820s enabled him to successfully develop the Metropolitan Police Force in 1829.
The rapid population growth in London made it difficult
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for local leaders to preserve the peace and control crime. In the 1820s, London experienced a period of urbanization, which caused the population to increase by twenty-one percent annually. This caused low employment rates and an increase in disorder. Many were jobless, and as a result, over ten percent of people in London made money illegally through means such as robbery and prostitution. The police was unable to control crime, and suburbs of London including Fullham, Ealing and Stratford had little to no police patrol, so criminals resisted arrest and many crimes went unnoticed. Military troops were often sent into violent outbreaks in order to regain order, because the police force was unable to control the masses. Many people became irritated with the police’s inefficiency and began to doubt the government. The local government was criticized by radicals, which led to conflict in London parishes and separation between local leaders and their former allies in Parliament. Furthermore, Parliament received pressure for reform from individuals in the government such as Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Sir James Graham, and Lord Grey, all of who were very committed to developing a new police force. These individuals not only saw the problems within the police system, but also had the power, as political leaders, to bring about change. In the 1820s, the police force followed the Tudor System, a system originally developed for small-scale use, so many areas lacked effective policing. The Tudor System was a system in which officers and local watchmen located suspects using spies. In London, this system was especially ineffective, because it neither reduced crime nor had the trust of the population. Residents of London disliked the use of spies, because they felt that it was an invasion of privacy. As a response to the inefficiency of the police, the Dismounted Horse Patrol was established in 1821. This system patrolled on foot at night and became a replacement for the Night Watch, a force that was too small and corrupt to be effective. Many areas still lacked police, and areas with police were often patrolled by a small number of officers, many of whom were corrupt. In 1822, Robert Peel began to reform the police system, which was made up of the Bow Street Runners, the Foot Patrol and the Dismounted Horse Patrol. He created the Bow Street Day Patrol, which consisted of three inspectors and twenty-four well-armed officials. Despite these reforms, the police was still unable to keep up with the amount of crime and the growing population. By 1828, the police force had expanded to include the Bow Street Horse Patrol, the Foot Patrol, the Dismounted Horse Patrol, and the Bow Street Day Patrol, but few officers were effective, and crime rates still increased. The steady increase in crime lowered many people’s tolerance for disorder and illustrated the need for a new police force. There was great urban growth in the 1820s, for whom there weren’t enough jobs, so some resorted to crime to earn a living. The wealthy citizens blamed the migrant poor for the increased crime. They viewed the migrant poor as dangerous, and believed that they needed to be controlled. During this time, society lacked economic stability, and members of high society believed that the establishment of a police force would discipline the working class. The police force was incapable of maintaining order; crime and disorder became a part of daily life. Crime posed a threat to people and their property, and life in London became very dangerous. Over ten percent of London residents were criminals and there were over two hundred capital offenses annually. This increase in serious crime, reflected by the number of capital crimes, caused wealthy Londoners to demand personal and property protection. Robert Peel’s views on the need for police reform were heavily influenced by his years as the Chief Secretary of Ireland between 1812 and 1819.
In this position, he witnessed a substantial amount of crime, most of which was violent and vicious. In Ireland, Peel developed the Peace Preservation Force, a centrally controlled uniform police unit. This reform provided him with the inspiration and experience needed to develop the Metropolitan Police Force. In a letter from Robert Peel to Mr. Goulburn, Chief Secretary of Ireland, Peel describes the actions that must be taken prior to creating a new police system. He recommends acting quickly and beginning with “a survey of arms and means of defense while we are comparatively at leisure in society.” His time in Ireland made him skeptical about long-term times of peace, and influenced his view that one must always remain alert. In 1822, Robert Peel became the Home Secretary of England for eight years, excluding an interruption of service in 1827 during the Canning and Goderich Ministries. In 1828, he resumed his plans for the Metropolitan Police. During his years as Home Secretary Peel’s logical attitude towards his work motivated him to clarify the legal …show more content…
system. After initial opposition, Peel persuaded Parliament that the current police was inadequate, which led Parliament to inquire about a structured police system. However, when Peel requested a Select Committee to work on developing the Metropolitan Police Act in 1822, Parliament rejected it because they viewed the Committee as an invasion of the citizens’ privacy. Although they were aware of the need for police reform, they did not believe it was worth the intrusion. When Peel was appointed Home Secretary, he began to reform the police with the approval of Parliament. In 1825, Peel developed the Juries Regulation Act, which clarified the jury process and qualifications needed to be a juror. The juries’ new consistency and fairness led a new, rational system in which extreme punishments were eliminated. Between 1825 and 1828, Peel replaced the old system, which contained two hundred seventy-eight laws, into a new system, which contained only eight. With Parliament’s support, Peel was able to pass modest reforms, which paved the road for to the creation of the Metropolitan Police Act. Robert Peel was able to get the Metropolitan Police Act passed as a result of the help he received from the Committee of Enquiry and the need for unity in the police. Following his restoration to Home Office in 1828, Peel rapidly restructured the police and put officers under the supervision of Home Office. He then formed the Committee of Enquiry, a group of advisors who gathered evidence of the need for reform and created recommendations for the new system. In the original Metropolitan Police Act, written by Peel, London was allowed to keep elements of their police system, a tactic that helped win the approval of the members of Parliament, many of whom were wary about the idea of completely replacing the police system. , Parliament agreed that the ineffectiveness of the night watch created a need for an updated centrally controlled police under which Britain could be adequately protected, but was unsure if a new system was the solution. When presenting the Metropolitan Police Act to Parliament, Peel argued that the system was flawed, and therefore no officials were unable to succeed under it, no matter their skill level. After convincing Parliament that a reform was needed, Peel argued that the Metropolitan Police would unite authorities and agencies and eliminate the need for military intervention. Since the Metropolitan Police Force was significantly larger than the earlier police force, it was able to manage the crime and regain control in society.
The Metropolitan Police Force consisted of one thousand four hundred officers and was funded by Parish Rate, a tax levied to provide support for the poor. Early on, the increased presence of police officers caused the public to view them as an invasion of political and social life. However, the decline in crime and the officers’ ability to deal with chaos and riots convinced the public of the necessity of the force. Today, historians debate the effectiveness of the police, because although the officers ended a period of violent crime, the number of petty crimes increased. After the establishment of the Metropolitan Police force, burglary decreased by twenty-two percent and larceny in dwellings decreased by seventy-seven percent. In the years following the establishment of the Metropolitan Police, the force even more effective and received approval from the Queen of
England. The uncontrolled crime of the 1820s combined with the government’s need to regain control of England alerted Parliament to the need for police reform. Reformers, such as Robert peel, put pressure on the government to restructure the police system. Peel had a working knowledge of the operation of the government and politics, having worked in Ireland. He strategized and advocated and therefore was able to develop the Metropolitan Police Act so it appealed to Parliament. Robert Peel’s experience in politics combined with the discontent of Londoners throughout the 1820s provided him with the opportunity to successfully develop the Metropolitan Police Act in 1829.
Officers were rewarded and reprimanded appropriately for the amount of arrests that were made. When Officers successfully prevented or deterred crime it didn’t show on paper. This tied in with officer morale in a big way. The book illustrates that when departments put out arrest quotas for the east side arrests fell, usually to the minimum. Mosko is often very critical of upper police managements distance and ignorance to the actual problems out there.
This essay will introduce two competing perspectives of policing, they are the orthodox and revisionist perspectives. This essay will then relate the orthodox and revisionist perspectives to the themes of lack of structure, industrialisation and finally hostility. The essay will then discuss whether the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 was an effective
The system of crime and law enforcement had hardly changed in Britain since the medieval times. Justices of the Peace or JPs were appointed by the Crown since 1361. Before the night watchmen and parish constables were introduced a primitive police force was introduced and the JPs were assisted by constables who only worked part time and were very unreliable as the pay was really bad. The early stages of the force consisted of a night watchmen and parish constables, who were prior to the creation of the main police force. Watchmen were groups of men, usually authorised by a state, government, or society, to deter criminal activity and provide law enforcement. Constables were required to apprehend anyone accused of a felony and bring criminals to a justice of the peace. They also had a general responsibility to keep the peace. There was no expectation that they would investigate and prosecute crimes because of limited responsibility and training. Night watchmen patrolled the streets between 9 or 10pm until sunrise and were expected to examine all suspicious characters. In the City of London, the City Marshall and the Beadles (Parish wardens) conducted daytime patrols. Similar to the night watchmen, primary responsibilities were to patrol and deter, drunkenness, beggars, vagrants and prostitutes and to act as a deterrent against more serious offences. Over the course of this period, the arrangements by which men served as constables and watchmen changed significantly, to incorporate how felons were detected and apprehended.
“For many early Victorians, policing was a new and low-status occupation. Few men became policeman for positive reasons" (Taylor 49).
The police was set up originally in 1829 by Robert Peel, who was home secretary at the time. It was created because as society became more complex, they needed a way to deal with civil disorder without using the military (Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime 2014). To date, there are 43 police forces in England and Wales. The police are used “to prevent crime, protect life and
The English Police experience influenced American policing through their practice of keeping city streets clean as well as establishing the good order and discipline of its residents. One the main ways they were able to accomplish this was through deterrence which is still used to this day. The mere presence of a police officer or officers would deter residents from getting out of line and prevent them from doing "unseemly behavior" in public places. The establishment of the police meant an active group patrolling the streets on the lookout for breaches of the moral code as well as common-law crimes, thus extending the authority of the state into the daily lives of the
According to Kelling, Pate, Dieckman, & Brown (1974), patrol is the “backbone” of police work. This belief is based around the premise that the mere presence of police officers on patrol prohibits criminal activity. Despite increasing budgets and the availability of more officers on the streets, crime rates still rose with the expanding metropolitan populations (Kelling et al., 1974). A one year experiment to determine the effectiveness of routine preventive patrol would be conducted, beginning on the first day of October 1972, and ending on the last day of September 1973.
More police officers doesn’t mean less crime because many of the crimes committed such as burglary, robbery, auto theft, larceny and vandalism which are preventable cannot be prevented if the response time is too slow. Even though more officers were on the job, even the fasted response had little influence of crime since the crime reports made came a significant time after the actually occurrence ,therefore flawing even the fastest police response.
In order for the police to successfully prevent crimes, public cooperation is needed. Various community policing programs have been implemented and it is important to discuss the benefits and limitations of these programs. Community policing allows the community to be actively involved and become a partner in promoting safety. This partnership increases trust of police officers and helps citizens understand that the police are on their side and want to improve their quality of life (Ferreira, 1996). The role of the police officers goes beyond that of a “crime fighter” and expands to multiple roles including that of a victim-centered
The first police department in America developed in New York and began the first era of policing which spanned from the 1830s to 1900 and is known as the political era (Walker & Katz, 2012). As emphasized by Walker (1999) not only did the political era of policing revolve around politics but provided officers with little to no training, education or recruitment standards (as cited in Police: History, 2014). The era also forced shaky job security for law enforcement and officers could be fired and hired at any point with little to no reason. Even men with criminal records were foot patrolling and women were only seen as “matrons” for the jail; they did not carry weapons and often times had very little arrest discretion (Walker & Katz, 2012). According to Walker and Katz (2012), “a $300 payment to the Tammany Hall poli...
When it comes to the political era, all policing resources had all been derived from the same source, the politicians that were in office at the time. During this era, all police had to function on foot patrol in
The Reform era – The police in this era ceased their ties with the politicians and became accountable to the law and professionalism. An advantage to this era was the large amount of focus put towards
Since English colonizers were the first to establish an extravagant, European society in North America, it is unsurprising that many of the aspects of the American administration of justice stemmed from its mother country. In England, law enforcement was an unorganized mess until the year 1200 (Schmalleger 137). The police system remained static from 1285 to 1829, until when Sir Robert Peel instituted the modern police force (Schmalleger 139). However, early American law enforcement was bound to be different, due to the differences of American and English life and environment. In the beginning of the colonial law enforcement, towns and cities inaugurated versions of the English day ward and night watch, but these processes did not remain in place for long (Schmalleger 139).
According to the New York Times, Sir Robert Peals had nine principles of policing. The first one states, “The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.” The next principle says “the ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.” The third principle is “police must secure the willing cooperation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.” Principle number four “the degree of cooperation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.” Number five “police seek and preserve public favor not by
American law enforcement agencies are based off the English models which began in the early 1800’s. In 1829, the English Parliament passed the Metropolitan Police Act (Walker, 1983). Sir Robert Peel who has been credited as the father of modern policing introduced this act to Parliament (Walker, 1983). This act established the London Metropolitan Police which was the model for American policing. This method of policing incorpor...